Chapter 885: Breaking Through the Soil

Sun Bumian instinctively took half a step back to avoid being hit by the flying figure.

When the dust settled, Sun Bumian looked down to see the person’s appearance. For some reason, a sense of familiarity slowly rose from the bottom of his heart...

"I told you to wash my feet, and you can't even adjust the water temperature beforehand? When your father was a dog for our Yan family, he had much more sense than you! Useless trash!"

A figure looking like a butler stepped out of the gate, cursing arrogantly.

The disheveled figure at Sun Bumian’s feet struggled to crawl up from the ground, then apologized cautiously and repeatedly:

"I'm sorry... the water was very hot when I prepared it, but it’s been so cold lately, and you came a bit late, so it got cold..."

"Don't give me your excuses!" The butler was furious. "Your father’s debts aren't paid off yet; it was our Yan family that took him in. A father’s debts are paid by the son! If you can't even do this, neither of you will ever get ahead in this life!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry..."

Little Jian didn't know how to make amends, so he could only bow his head and apologize frantically. His waist was bent low, and a slap mark on his cheek was bright red.

The butler saw Sun Bumian behind him and frowned.

"Who are you? What are you doing in front of our Yan family gate?!"

Sun Bumian was startled. He shook his head instinctively.

"Oh... I'm just passing by."

After saying that, he glanced at Little Jian, who was still apologizing, and turned to walk away.

Sun Bumian didn't know why he was here, nor did he know who that person was, but his instinct to avoid disaster told him not to get involved in such troublesome matters... If he pretended not to see, he wouldn't attract disaster, and disaster wouldn't attract him, just like in all the years past.

Little Jian’s apologies and the butler’s angry curses gradually faded. Sun Bumian walked along the street, leaving everything behind, no longer thinking about it.

Just as he was about to leave the street, a figure appeared before him.

It was the white-haired figure wrapped in bandages. He looked at Sun Bumian with pursed lips, his eyes filled with complexity...

"Who are you?" Sun Bumian couldn't help but ask, seeing him staring.

"My name is Jiang Xiaohua."

"I don't know you."

"Oh... that’s fine." Jiang Xiaohua pointed to the Yan family in the distance. "But you can't just leave like this..."

"Why?"

"Aren't you companions?"

"Companions?" Sun Bumian was startled. "No, I don't know him at all..."

"You know him, and you must help him... companions should help each other." Jiang Xiaohua answered earnestly. "Besides... he is very pitiful, isn't he?"

Sun Bumian opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

He was silent for a long time, then looked back at the Yan family... The sound of Little Jian apologizing repeatedly lingered in his ears, and that bright red slap mark seemed branded in his heart, feeling as uncomfortable as a knot.

Sun Bumian felt he had indeed forgotten something, but that was a common occurrence for him. Every time he went through a cycle, the events of past cycles would become a bit blurrier...

But this time, the forgetting seemed different.

Sun Bumian hesitated for a moment, then let out a long sigh and turned to walk toward the Yan family gate...

"Fine... then I'll trust you once."

……

In the darkness,

Jian Changsheng’s eyelashes trembled gently.

After a long time, he finally opened his eyes. As if he had been unconscious for a long time, his eyes were filled with bewilderment and dullness.

"My head hurts so much..."

Jian Changsheng scratched his head, and after the headache subsided, he slowly sat up from the darkness.

Deng deng deng deng—

Blinding spotlights shone down from above his head. The sudden light made him instinctively cover his eyes, his features twisting slightly...

After a few seconds, he finally adapted to the strong light and opened a gap between his fingers.

Seeing the scene before him, he was startled at first,

Then his pupils contracted violently!

"This... this is..."

……

The bright red opera robe sat withered upon the desolation.

He was like a hollow shell, sitting cross-legged on Sun Bumian’s grave; time flowed silently around him—the sun rose, night fell, withered trees met spring, and the seasons cycled...

Perhaps due to the owner of this memory, Chen Ling’s perception of time became dull and blurred. In a flash, more than half a year passed quietly.

Until one day, an army from an unknown place invaded the city.

They burned, killed, and looted, filling the city with wails and corpses... Another army had come to support, but after a great battle, they were defeated like a collapsing mountain.

In the end, the city was completely occupied. Countless inhabitants died or were injured, and the corpses littering the ground bred a plague, forcing the remaining survivors to flee...

Coupled with climate changes and wind erosion, the city, which had been bustling just over half a year ago, soon became a dead city, eventually disappearing from the map.

A year passed, and there was no more noise or celebration in the city, only endless loneliness and the whimpering of wind and sand.

Sun Bumian did not awaken;

The second year, the third year...

In the fourth year, Chen Ling saw the old man return with a cane. Looking at everything before him, he sighed helplessly... He coughed weakly, muttered something else to the grave where Sun Bumian lay, and turned to leave.

Chen Ling did not reveal himself, but before the old man left, he glanced at the withered tree where Chen Ling was hiding, his gaze complex and profound.

The fifth year, the sixth year, the seventh year...

Ten years later.

A bridal sedan procession, accompanied by gongs and drums, slowly approached from afar.

This was a wedding procession from a neighboring city, crossing the wilderness to deliver the bride to her husband’s family... Perhaps because they were wealthy, the procession was grand and solemn. Even from a distance, Chen Ling could hear the lively sound of their gongs and drums.

Inside the sedan, a woman wearing a red veil, harboring a trace of joy and anxiety about the future, silently clasped her hands together and prayed in her heart...

"Heaven bless me... I don't ask for great wealth in this life, only that after I marry, the couple will be harmonious and have children to cherish."

"And my parents at home, may they be safe and sound, and enjoy a long and happy life..."

Clang—!

A sound of gongs and drums, like thunder, cut across the desolate land.

The wedding procession gradually moved away. Chen Ling, having witnessed the whole process, seemed to sense something and looked down at his feet...

A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, and he stood up and took a few steps back... If one observed closely, one could see the solid, level ground gradually loosening, as if something was about to break through the soil!

"Finally..." A sharp light flickered in Chen Ling’s eyes.

Puff—

With a soft sound, a palm reached out from the soil, like a long-imprisoned prisoner finally welcoming the free sky...

Chen Ling hesitated for a moment, reached out to grasp the palm emerging from the ground, and pulled it out with force!

The moment they touched, a wave of memories began to surge from Chen Ling’s mind!